When I was the age that a new car turned my head, the Detroit automotive manufacturers were into animal names. There was the Mustang, the Cougar, the Impala, and the Colt. There was the Jaguar too, but that was a car of a different breed altogether.
Then there seemed to be a period where auto manufacturers were taken with the heavens. We had the Saturn, the Taurus, the Mercury, the Lumina, the Windstar and the Stratus. Some of those are still popular too. Next came references to the Old West: the Renegade, the Cherokee, the Laredo, the Silverado, the Ranger, and the Caravan.
But today’s most prominent trend is toward words that indicate bigness. Words like Expedition, Explorer, Maxima, and – my personal target for unbelievability – the Tundra.
Excuse me? The Tundra?
Who can relate their four wheels and steering column to a rolling barren plain usually associated with Siberia or arctic North America?
I understand the marketing perspective on calling vehicles by names that make the driver and passengers feel as if they’re on an adventure of the greatest magnitude. That their choice of transportation is superlative to the nth degree. That’s how cars are sold. So I can only imagine the marketing pros wanted to convey that the Tundra would go anywhere, but it just doesn’t work for me. If I had wanted to make the message clear, I would have called it the Camel. I would also re-tool it to get 40 miles to the gallon.
Given today’s gas prices, that could be a winner of a name.
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